Distributed Sferics Sensors
From HacDC Wiki
Very nebulous idea at the moment, but the idea would be to build a distributed lightning detection system, with the intended goal of having precision high enough to go find the aftereffects of strikes (like geocaching). After thinking of this, I found some dutch folks have done much what I had in mind. I can see a lot of room for impovement in what they've done (though I'm hella impressed by what they've got so far) - live output to the web comes to mind. Could be a lot of fun, and incorporates analog circuit design, programming, distributed networks, and geophysics (SCIENCE!). Could have a public service angle as well.